Fit for business: Footballer turned businessman expands his chain to the city centre

Adrian Harper – co-owner of ProFitness Gym – has spoken about the expansion of his gym and moving from his hometown of Balbriggan into the unknown of Dublin’s city centre.

Harper, a former professional footballer who gave up the sport at an early age to pursue his real ambition of fitness, believes “expansion is key to compete with the other big gyms in the country”.

This gym will be the third ProFitness gym to be built with the other two being in Balbriggan and Malahide.

Harper is wary of the difficulties that go with expanding into an area where he is not very familiar with but feels it’s a challenge he had to take.

“Our long-term goal is to be the biggest gym in Ireland and in doing so we have to take risks, and this is one of them. We have a great reputation in North Dublin so we now hope to help people achieve great results in Dublin’s city centre,” said Harper.

Over the past four years since ProFitness was formed, they have helped over 400 clients reach their targets. They specialise in weight loss and muscle gain, and also place a lot of emphasis on nutrition, which they say separates them from many other gyms.

“I think a large part of our success comes down to the efforts we put into getting the correct diet for each client individually. Our trainers are constantly learning new methods as a result of the courses we attend,” the businessman said.

The 30-year-old is confident his latest gym will prove to be a success and will be another piece of the puzzle in reaching their overall goal.

“When we first expanded out to Malahide, we didn’t know many people out there so we were a little bit apprehensive about how it would go, but it took off and is now doing very well, so I’m confident it will be no different this time,” he said.

Looking into the future, he reveals he has plans for another gym but says the present is about focusing his attention on his new gym.

“Right now, it’s important not to get carried away. We have to build this one up to the level where our other two gyms are at, before we invest elsewhere,” he said.